Institute for Government

Refreshing the brand of a leading UK think tank

The think tank Institute for Government, like a lot of brands, acknowledges the importance of a regular brand review, and ensuring their content surfaces on any device anywhere

Opportunity

The Institute for Government is the leading think tank working to make government more effective. It provides fresh thinking through research, events and leadership development for senior politicians and civil servants. We were asked to review their branding to ensure it was fit for purpose and able to meet the evolving nature of their work, particularly in digital environments.

Approach

We combined an audit, competitive review and workshops to unearth a distinctive positioning and refreshed branding for the Institute for Government. This built on existing brand assets (logo and colours) and reputation to build a more effective and unique presence in digital spaces. This was particularly important as the Institute had noticed a move towards mobile and tablet use via its analytics, especially among new audience groups such as those working in local government. The Institute for Government wanted to reflect these changes in its vast number of publications, especially as it wanted to carve out a valuable role as a key influencer in the run up to Brexit.

Impact

We took a ‘mobile first’ approach. We reconsidered fonts, with special allowance being made for cost and access of use by all members of staff and external writers. We refreshed the colour palette to support the vast amount of visual data presented, particularly online, but also using traditional print formats for charts, infographics and diagrams. We also addressed publication templates allowing for visualisation onscreen, especially mobiles. A key aspect of our work was accessibility, and we worked hard to ensure our branding met requirements for people with colour blindness. Rather than produce new guidelines we updated the existing ones to keep costs down. As part of the work we also looked at revised elevator pitches for the think tank to use online, for boilerplates and in broader descriptions, such as presentations and speeches.